Team Extreme’s Anton Paz happy to see huge crowd at 2011 Extreme Sailing Series Act 8
October 12 was a National Bank Holiday in Spain, and the public gathered at the port of Almeria to cheer up the teams participating at the opening day of 2011 Extreme Sailing Series Act 8. The presence of such a big crowd seemed like a party on the shore
and Team Extreme’ new trimmer on board, Anton Paz, was really excited to see a huge number of people turn up to see the race.
The Beijing Olympic gold medallist, who began his campaign as a trimmer on Roland Gaebler skippered Extreme Sailing, expressed his joy and said, “Today was really impressive, seeing all these people here in this Stadium racing format that really brings the
competition to the public.”
Paz believes that sailing at Almeria in the presence of such a huge crowd put a lot pressure on the teams, despite the fact that spectators just gathered to cheer and support them. The Spanish trimmer added, “It puts more pressure on us while we race, but
at the same time it’s really encouraging to hear the applause from the crowds when we finish. Sailing against such high level sailors helps everyone to improve their game. When Roland Gaebler started racing the Tornado, I was just ten years old! He is an example
to me and it’s great to come back to multihulls after my experience in the Tornado.”
Wind conditions were not strong at the port of Almeria which troubled sailors a bit, but they managed to complete four races scheduled on Day 1. Team Extreme had a slow start in the competition as they could not perform well and finished last on the overall
standings at the end of the first racing day. They grabbed 13 points after four races on Almeria waters.
Following are the overall Extreme Sailing Series Act 8 standings after four races:
1. Oman Air (OMA), Ben Ainslie, Kinley Fowler, David Carr, Nasser Al Mashari = 39 points
2. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec, Christophe Espagnon, Thierry Fouchier, Hervé Cunningham = 31 points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Adam Beashel, Ray Davies, Jeremy Lomas, Derek Seward = 30 points
4. Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams, Mischa Heemrskerk, Andrew Walsh, Brad Webb = 30 points
5. Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matt Adams, Craig Monk = 28 points
6. Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson, Manuel Modena = 26 points
7. Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier, Stefano Rizzi, Daniele De Luca, Simone de Mari = 20 points
8. The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan, Kyle Langford, Nick Hutton, Khamis Al Anbouri = 18 points
9. Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou, Yann Guichard, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey = 14 points
10. Team TILT (SUI), Alex Schneiter, Boet Brinkgreve, Charles Favre, Nicolas Heintz = 14 points
11. Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler, Nahid Gaebler, Antón Paz, Tom Buggy = 13 points
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